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My startup banking story (2023)

mitchellh.com

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Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#131

Post by GJim »

mitchellh wrote: post #8

Funny to see this pop up again (I'm the author). The year is now 2025 and I still use Chase as a personal bank and I'm now discovering new funny banking behaviors. I'll use this as a chance to share. :) My company had an exit, I did well financially. This is not a secret. I'm extremely privileged and thankful for it. But as a result of this, I've used a private bank (or mix) for a number of years to store the vast ma…

> private banks is they make it hard to do retail-like banking behaviors

> depositing a quick check.....Zelle.

Good lord

American banking really is in the stone age. I don't think I've seen a cheque in 20 years. As for private banks, in Blighty they all (?) offer 'retail' services that out perform high street offerings.

Incidentally, all high street banking is free in the UK. Only private banks tend to charge for their services.

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#132

Post by s_dev »

didibus wrote: post #98

I'm not sure I understand why there's anything wrong, strange or embarrassing about what the author did? Can some finance person tell me why the author feel they did did in not smart ways and maybe made some mistakes?

He didn't do anything wrong, the takeaway is that he made Alex a rising star in his bank who was supposed to be giving him 'white glove' treatment but to the Founder it was a just a bank account. Years later he decides to move money to another bank. Alex can't stop it because he has no personal relationship or rapport to lean on. A few years later he encounters some fraud on the account the kind of exact situation that Alex could uniquely help with but Alex had presumably been let go for not giving the white glove treatment and built a rapport to the Founder.

Personally I found the whole thing frustrating to read as it underscores how traditional banks operate 'look after rich people' and 'be indifferent to not rich people'.

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#133

Post by Cthulhu_ »

DownGoat wrote: post #122
mierz00 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a similar story in France. Closing an account with Caisse d’Epargne was nothing short of pure torture. Luckily, I didn’t actually have to go in, but the process took me nearly 6 months of back and forth, multiple phone calls, multiple hand written letters. Yes, France loves hand written letters, no you cannot type it. Every now and then I think it would be nice to return and live in France, but the thought of…

It's so easy in Norway. When you start a new relationship with another bank, they just offer to move all your money and automatic bill payments from the other bank to your new bank. So the new bank handles everything

Similar in the Netherlands (idk about banking, but), nowadays if you move house, you just make an appointment at the local county hall and set your new address; the old county is informed, and a lot of companies that bill you regularly (e.g. utilities, health insurance, etc) will automatically reroute any mail to your new address.

I'm glad for that too; mail is pretty much dead, I wouldn't know what organizations to report an address change to nowadays.

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#134

Post by DownGoat »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #133
DownGoat wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so easy in Norway. When you start a new relationship with another bank, they just offer to move all your money and automatic bill payments from the other bank to your new bank. So the new bank handles everything

Similar in the Netherlands (idk about banking, but), nowadays if you move house, you just make an appointment at the local county hall and set your new address; the old county is informed, and a lot of companies that bill you regularly (e.g. utilities, health insurance, etc) will automatically reroute any mail to your new address. I'm glad for that too; mail is pretty much dead, I wouldn't know what organizations to…

Yeah same process in Norway when you move. Fill in a form online and all mail is rerouted, and companies will update records.

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#135

Post by sneak »

jancsika wrote: post #46

> Ultimately, there was no long term negative impact of the events that transpired (except maybe for Alex, but I truly don't know) and I can now look back on it with amusement. So a software guy who didn't understand people or banking opens an account at Chase. And a guy from Chase who didn't understand people or software calls him-- repeatedly over years-- and fails to ever connect on any human level whatsoever. Now…

You should not underestimate the median level of incompetence and unprofessionalism among low level Chase employees.

I had one call the police on me recently for (non-surreptitiously) recording our interaction as we conducted a safe deposit box inventory.

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#136

Post by sneak »

mitchellh wrote: post #63
sneak wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you are managing a $500k-1M+ liquid net worth. I think Chase starts “Private Client” at $250 or $300k. (Don’t use Chase, however.) It might in some cases be more trouble than it is worth, if you are right around the threshold. A “normal” retail checking account and a brokerage account at another institution with the ability to transfer between them is probably sufficient for most. If you need loans or mortgages…

Private client isn’t private bank. They name is like that so you think it is though. :) private banking services start around $10 to $15M with higher tiers as you go. (Not trying to diminish private client services. But they’re night and day different services.)

What’s the difference?

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#137

Post by mprivat »

mitchellh wrote: post #8

Funny to see this pop up again (I'm the author). The year is now 2025 and I still use Chase as a personal bank and I'm now discovering new funny banking behaviors. I'll use this as a chance to share. :) My company had an exit, I did well financially. This is not a secret. I'm extremely privileged and thankful for it. But as a result of this, I've used a private bank (or mix) for a number of years to store the vast ma…

That was an interesting and entertaining read. Well written. Thanks for sharing. It reminds me I do have a bank with physical branches, the digital world made me forget all about that.

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#138

Post by koliber »

epolanski wrote: post #123
dml2135 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is everything in Italy, not just banking. I remember studying abroad there, it took us a week and a half of “domani” to get the wifi password for the dorm!

I'm Italian and both the previous story as well as your comment trigger me. 1) You could've asked the password to literally anybody in the dorm. 2) Unless this was geological ages ago, by law, all you need to close a bank account is a certified email (or PEC) or a certified letter (you go to the post office with a document and a simple form that specifies where you want your stuff transferred) you don't need to go in…

Regarding closing the account, it's probably just like you describe. However, the author was told something else. Not everyone knows the "proper" procedure by heart, and many people rely on what they are told from officials in a given institution.

The fact that the bank personel in the first bank did not share what you just shared only adds to the misfortune.

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#139

Post by eadmund »

s_dev wrote: post #132
didibus wrote: post #98

I'm not sure I understand why there's anything wrong, strange or embarrassing about what the author did? Can some finance person tell me why the author feel they did did in not smart ways and maybe made some mistakes?

He didn't do anything wrong, the takeaway is that he made Alex a rising star in his bank who was supposed to be giving him 'white glove' treatment but to the Founder it was a just a bank account. Years later he decides to move money to another bank. Alex can't stop it because he has no personal relationship or rapport to lean on. A few years later he encounters some fraud on the account the kind of exact situation th…

> Personally I found the whole thing frustrating to read as it underscores how traditional banks operate 'look after rich people' and 'be indifferent to not rich people'.

Would you expect the fellow who earns the bank $20,000/year and the fellow who earns the bank $200/year to be treated the same?

I also think it’s less about ‘looking after rich people’ as offering the right services to the right customers. Someone who lives paycheque to paycheque and bridges the gap with credit cards and someone who has a few tens of thousands of dollars in cash have different needs; someone who has a few hundreds of thousands has still different ones; someone who has a few millions has yet different ones. Different products make sense to use — and from the bank’s perspective, to offer — at those different points.

Remember, too, that it costs different amounts for the bank to offer different products. Technology can help reduce those costs, which is a good part of how we all have jobs, and a good part of how so many people are so much better off than fifty years ago (back in the day, one had to place orders for 100-share blocks of stock, and pay a broker a commission on it — now it is possible to purchase fractional shares with no commission, enabling anyone with even a few extra bucks to get started compounding returns). But some costs, particularly regulatory costs, cannot be reduced.

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#140

Post by asimovfan »

gwbas1c wrote: post #44
chao- wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your answers are appreciated, but they beg further questions. Do you mind that I inquire further? >1: Chase's business account wasn't appropriate for a tech startup; nor was it appropriate for the amount of money Mitchell was handling. What properties make it inappropriate for a tech startup, specifically? What would be appropriate instead, and why? >2: When your bank calls you after a very, very large money transfer…

The bank account was appropriate for small businesses. IE, restaurant, laundromat, ect. This became clear when the article explained that there was education for tellers about what a tech startup is. Mitchell didn't take the call. He ended the call as quickly as he politely could, short of hanging up on Alex. Edit: I've had a few bank tellers advise me on how to adjust my bank account correctly in the past. I'm going…

If the best Alex could do (or that Chase tells their clerks to do) was "are you sure you don't need anything?" I think it's the bank's fault.

Considering how we receive so much junk communication from banks one would imagine they'd be more vocal about what the issue was.

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